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Free Press Debunks Top 10 Net Neutrality Myths

New report separates fact from fiction in the debate over Net Neutrality at the FCC

September 30, 2009

Contact Info:

Moira Vahey, Free Press, (708) 476-5454

WASHINGTON -- Today, Free Press released Digital Déjà Vu: Old Myths about Net Neutrality, a new issue brief that dispels the arguments from big phone and cable companies and opponents of Net Neutrality. The report exposes false claims about investment, regulation, competition and other prevalent issues.

“The debate over what policies are needed to preserve the open Internet must be bound by facts and reality, not by misdirection and discredited falsehoods,” said S. Derek Turner, Free Press research director and author of the report. “Industry and their phony astroturf groups are deliberately misleading policymakers and the public about Net Neutrality. This is an important public policy issue, and consumers need to know the truth.”

The debate over Net Neutrality was reignited recently when Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski announced plans to create stronger open Internet rules. Net Neutrality has been supported by President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, congressional leaders, public interest groups, private industry and millions of everday people. But opponents of Net Neutrality have been quickly working to undermine through misinformation these efforts to preserve an open Internet.

Some of the myths debunked in the report include:

Myth: “Net Neutrality is a solution in search of a
problem.”

Reality: ISPs claim that Net Neutrality is a “solution in search
of a problem,” but they also say they need to violate the
principles of the open Internet to reap profits from new
discriminatory business models. Now the technology that enables
discrimination is finally available to ISPs.

Myth: “This will be the first time the government has regulated
the Internet.”

Reality: The open Internet as we know it would not exist if not for regulation. More than 40 years ago, the FCC helped to create an environment where the Internet could flourish by preventing phone companies from interfering with traffic flowing over their networks.

Myth: “Net Neutrality rules will discourage investment.”

Reality: Without Net Neutrality, ISPs will actually have an incentive to delay investment and profit by selling access at a premium to artificially scarce bandwidth.

Myth: “Net Neutrality would prevent ISPs from effectively managing Web congestion from video streaming and other bandwidth-intensive activities that are clogging up the Web.”

Reality: Nothing in the proposed FCC open Internet rules, or in congressional legislation, would prevent an ISP from using reasonable network management techniques to deal with congestion.

“Net Neutrality rules will preserve the free flow of information, spur investment and promote choice,” Turner said. “We cannot allow the future of the open Internet to be sabotaged
by these long-discredited myths.”

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